Nature Scares The Hell Out Of Me

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Nature is unpredictable, unrelenting and just plain unmerciful. Really, Nature, a snowstorm on top of a hurricane?? I'm scared of the earthquake that will decimate the Salt Lake valley when it hits, but at least that's a one-time, over hundreds of years, occurrence; the likelihood of it happening while I am here is very small. But these hurricanes and tornadoes will likely happen again next year, and possibly to those who went through it this year. Ugh. I feel for those living in that area. I wish there were more we could directly do from far away.

I'm trying to learn from Sandy and get my 5-day supply of water, food, heat and money (small bills!) in order. I don't have any fuel in storage and need to teach myself how to store it safely before I do so, but that is on my list. Luckily in China I learned how to handle contaminated water, food and lack of heat. These are miserable things, though. (Most of our heating solutions there were unsafe. But they were all we had.)

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Comments

Matt said…
The problem with fuel is gasoline, kerosene, and diesel all go bad. It wasn't great with gasoline before ethanol and now it's garbage.

Kero & Diesel are more stable...but will actually grow algae if you don't periodically add stabilizers.

Propane is actually the most stable fuel -- it has an indefinite shelf life, no additives needed. It's great for standby generators, with the caveat it's really difficult to replenish yourself if the propane delivery companies aren't up and running or can't reach them.

Easiest: Just fill up the car whenever it's down to half.

Little Harder: Keep several 5 gallon cans, and rotate them monthly (old gas into your gas tank, go refill the containers).

Easiest but Expensive: VP Racing Fuels sell "SEF" (Small Engine Fuel, since legally they can't sell it for cars) that is ethanol free. http://www.vp-sef.com/ Sealed five gallon cans should last a couple years on the shelf, but you still have to use it up and buy new occassionally...and it's about $10/gallon.

Since storms are the main hazard here, I go and fill five gallon cans before a major storm is predicted...and if not needed for the generator empty them into my car afterwards.

For homeowners (or fire departments!) that only occassionally use their small engines like chainsaws and weedwhackers...I really like the pre-mix versions of the VP SEF fuels sold by the quart. The 1 gallon non-mix SEF would be great if you had a small generator like those 1500w Honda camping generators and wanted to keep an emergency supply on hand.
Friday, November 09, 2012
Rebecca Foster said…
Thanks for the great info! I will keep it in mind as I am choosing a solution.
Friday, November 16, 2012
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